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This report has been co-published with our affiliated organisation, Brexit Facts4EU.Org. We are most grateful for their original research into the raw data which backs what follows.
EU27 continue to fund Putin’s war with £15bn per month
Brexit Britain slams door shut with sanctions, but EU’s are ineffective
The contrast could not be greater: while the EU paid £15bn to Russia for goods in June, the UK paid only £0.03bn.
Exclusive research undertaken by CIBUK and our affiliate Facts4EU reveals the alarming and continuing flow of funds from the EU to the Putin regime even as the UK reduces theirs to a trickle.
CIBUK exposes the shocking disparity between the EU’s sanctions on Putin’s Russia, compared with that of the UK.
A Shocking Disparity
Payments for goods from Russia, June 2022
- EU27 : £15.3bn
- UK : £ 0.03bn
[Sources: EU Commission and ONS, import figures released Aug 2022. Euros converted into pounds at €1=£0.85.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 – click to enlarge
UK vs EU: Percentage Change in payments to Russia
- EU27 % change, June 2019 versus June 2022 : +61.6%
- UK % change, June 2019 versus June 2022 : -98.2%
[Sources: EU Commission and ONS, import figures released Aug 2022.]
On imports the change could not be starker.
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 – click to enlarge
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Compare and contrast with the actions taken by Brexit Britain:
- 8 March 2022 – phasing out of oil imports by the end of 2022
- 25 March 2022 – additional 35% import tariff on a range of goods implemented
- 6 April 2022 – import ban announced on all iron and steel products
- 21 April 2022 – import bans announced on silver, wood products and high-end goods
- 1 June 2022 – further goods subject to the additional 35% tariff
- 26 June 2022 – import ban announced on gold
Summary:
As a result of all the above, imports of goods from Russia decreased to £33 million in June 2022 and are at the lowest level since records began in January 1997. There were no imports of fuels from Russia in June 2022 – again this is for the first time since records began.
OBSERVATIONS
Consider the bare facts: The EU27 are spending 62% more with Russia than they did before the Covid pandemic.
Part of this is down to their dependence on Russian gas which we now know to have been a huge geo-strategic mistake and from which they should have weaned themselves off years ago.
Conversely the newly-independent United Kingdom has been free to act – and act it has done. Putin’s Russia is now receiving only 2% of what they were receiving from the UK, pre-pandemic. With the UK being the fifth-largest economy in the world this is significant.
Meanwhile Putin is still able to fund his illegal invasion of Ukraine, courtesy of more than €18bn euros per month being received from the EU27.
For the original version of this article, click here: https://facts4eu.org/news/2022_aug_eu_funding_putin
